One Should Not Judge Others and Boast About Oneself
December 16
(On How It Is Not Fitting To Judge Someone Who Sins)
By Archpriest Victor Guryev
December 16
(On How It Is Not Fitting To Judge Someone Who Sins)
By Archpriest Victor Guryev
We usually love to judge our neighbors and boast about ourselves. If someone sins in our presence, we immediately begin to cry out: "How will he answer before God? Woe to him! May he be cursed!" And if we ourselves have done something good, then immediately the pharisaical thought appears within us: "I am not like other men!" we say silently to ourselves.
Brethren, we should not act like this. Instead let us learn how to act from the Holy Fathers. According to one saying of the Church, there was once a holy man who saw another man fall into sin before his eyes, wept bitterly and said, "He sinned today, and I tomorrow." Therefore, Christian, never condemn someone who has sinned, even if they are unfaithful, and never revile them for the sin they have committed. Instead, pay attention to yourself and see whether you yourself are walking uprightly and not falling. Pray to God to drive away the thought of condemnation... And, if you want to be saved, beware of those who praise and exalt you, and do not reproach the sinner. Do not forget that the prudent thief on the cross was justified before the Lord with a single word, while the Pharisee was condemned for a single word. And Judas, numbered among the Apostles, wasted all his labors in a single night and was cast into hades. Never boast of yourself, for all who boast have fallen. And if you see someone fall into sin, do not judge them, do not blame them, but rather the devil who has overcome them. Say to yourself: "Behold, the sinner, whom I condemn, did not sin voluntarily, but was drawn into it by the devil, while I sin voluntarily and knowingly." Weep for your sins, struggle with yourself, and remember that no one who lives in laziness and negligence will overcome the devil, and none of such will receive any blessings from the Lord. All of us, in one way or another, while living in this world, are deceived. Therefore, if we rejoice over the fall of our neighbor or condemn him, we ourselves will be defeated by the devil. If we fight hard against temptations, then God will be our helper.
Therefore, brethren, this is how the Holy Fathers teach us to act toward those who sin, and perhaps even toward ourselves. They command us not to condemn those who sin, but to weep for them. They also command us to humble ourselves before God, to consider ourselves sinners, worthy of all condemnation and punishment, even expulsion from our father's house. And so it must certainly be. What kind of judges are we of others when we ourselves sin at every step! What kind of accusers are we when we ourselves are completely without accountability before God! What kind of reproachers are we when, looking back, we see in ourselves only unpaid sin, unforgiven evil!
No, brethren, we must judge not others, but ourselves, and ask the Lord more often to grant us to see our own sins, and not those of our neighbors. Grant me, O Lord, to see my own sins and not to judge my brother. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
